"This Brother Cao is from the capital. He is a friend that the student met yesterday when he was wandering around the capital. We hit it off immediately. Because the student had something to do with Brother Cao after a while, he also brought Brother Cao." Zhou Shu said. Brother Zhou Wei said.
"I wonder who Brother Cao is?" Although these people couldn't tell that he knew martial arts, they could feel that he was different from them, so someone asked.
"I am a hereditary military commander from the capital guard station, not someone who studied for the imperial examination." Cao Zheng said.
The man was choked. According to Confucius's original intention, studying is to understand the truth, but now people study to become officials. Because the road to becoming an official is the smoothest, they take the imperial examination. Those who fail to pass the Jinshi examination enter the Imperial Academy, Cao Zheng This statement is quite ironic to them.
Since the conversation was not speculative, they did not talk to Cao Zheng and only discussed this year's imperial examination questions with brother Zhou Shu.
Cao Zheng himself didn't care. He sat down at a small table and ordered half a bottle of wine and two kinds of appetizers to drink by himself. However, although Zhou Shu had no friendship with Cao Zheng, he felt very sorry for talking to them. I kept looking at him all the time.
After a while, Zhou Shu explained the topics of these policy discussions, and Zhou Wei also roughly expressed his understanding, then stood up and bowed to each other: "Brother Li, friends, I have something to do today, so I will take my leave first. "
Of course they wanted to stay. But although Zhou Wei's attitude was gentle, his tone was very firm. They looked at Zhou Shu and saw that he had no intention of stopping him, so they no longer forced him to stay.
Zhou Wei bid farewell to them, walked to Cao Zheng's table and said with a smile: "Let's go."
Cao Zheng put down his wine glass, loudly called the waiter at the inn to come over to pay the bill, and left the inn with him.
While walking, Cao Zheng also said: "These are all Jinshi in your subject. If you don't deal with them much, it doesn't matter if our affairs are postponed for one day."
"If my family hadn't forced me to take the exam, I wouldn't have taken the exam." Zhou Wei said, "Although I had to study hard under the pressure of my family, I have no interest in becoming an official."
"As for my family's expectations, my eldest brother is here. Not only is he good at figuring out His Majesty's thoughts, but he is also good at making friends. He will definitely be able to become a high official in the future. I will be a small official in the capital or somewhere and study what we like. That’s fine.”
"If I am elected to another place next year, you have to write to me often." He finally half-joked.
After hearing this, Cao Zheng thought in his mind and was about to speak when he suddenly noticed something and raised his head to look forward. He saw two handsome men standing in front of them, blocking their way.
"The road is so wide, what are you two doing standing here!" Zhou Wei immediately scolded.
The two of them ignored him. Zhou Wei was unhappy and was about to scold him again. Suddenly Cao Zheng took his arm and said to the two big men with his puzzled eyes: "I don't know that you two adults stopped us." What's going on between the two of you?"
"Do you recognize us?" one of the big men asked.
"I have seen him in Annan."
"Since you recognize us, that's even better." The big man said, "Come with us." Then the two big men turned around and walked towards an inn, not worrying at all that they would not follow.
Cao Zheng's body was trembling slightly, and he pulled Zhou Wei to follow him.
Not long after, they came to another inn. The big man asked for an upper room, took the two of them up, and asked them to stay in the room not to go out. Then he closed the door and left.
When he arrived here, Zhou Wei saw Cao Zheng's nervous look and immediately asked: "Cao Zheng, what on earth is going on?"
"I don't know what the specific situation is. But there should be an adult who wants to see the two of us. But I don't know the reason why he wants to see us. The two people just now are the adult's bodyguards." Cao Zheng said anxiously.
"Sir, someone who can have such a bodyguard is either a general in charge or a high-ranking civil servant among the ministers. What would such a person do when he sees the two of us?" Zhou Wei muttered to himself and asked Cao Zheng: "Cao Zheng, who is this big shot?"
Cao Zheng was very hesitant and didn't know whether to talk to him or not; but at this moment, he heard a "squeak" sound and the door was opened. Three men who looked like the strong men just now were surrounded by a man who looked like a noble prince. An imposing man walked in.
When Cao Zheng saw this man, he immediately forgot about his previous plan. When his legs went weak, he knelt down and said, "I have seen your Majesty, Cao Zheng. Long live, long live, long live!"
"Is this your Majesty?" After hearing Cao Zheng's words, Zhou Wei immediately stayed where he was. Although he had met the emperor once during the palace examination, his ranking in the examination was not high and he stood at the back. Besides, he could not always I stared at the emperor, but I didn't remember what he looked like. Only now did I realize that the emperor looked like this.
After a while, a guard scolded: "You haven't paid homage to your Majesty yet!" Zhou Wei reacted, and immediately knelt down, trembling all over, and said, "Students have seen the emperor, long live, long live, long live!"
"Pingsheng." Yunxi sat down and said to the two of them.
After the two of them stood up, Yun He said warmly: "Cao Aiqing, Zhou Jinshi, you don't need to be nervous. I summoned you two just because I was a little curious. Cao Aiqing, your family is noble. You have met me when you were a child, and now you are here again." You are a military general in the guard station; Zhou Wei, you are the second-level Jinshi I just selected, and you are from Jiangxi. Logically speaking, you have nothing to do with Cao Zheng. How did you two get so close?"
This reason can be explained with difficulty, but the two of them are still puzzled: 'The emperor has so many things to do, how can he even care about such a trivial matter?'
However, Cao Zheng immediately remembered that his father's face was not very good a few days ago. He was muttering with his eldest brother all day long, as if the matter was involved in the struggle in the court. He immediately thought that the reason why Yunxi was concerned about his relationship with Zhou Wei was because he was worried about him. In wooing the new Jinshi, after all, although Zhou Wei himself is not ranked high, he is still the second-class Jinshi, and his brother has won three yuan in a row, so he is worth wooing.
"Bang bang bang" Cao Zheng thought of this and immediately kowtowed three times and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, my friendship with Zhou Wei and Zhou Jinshi has nothing to do with our identities."
"I have liked to study some extraordinary things since I was a child, and Zhou Jinshi is also similar to me, so I met Zhou Jinshi by chance a few days ago and hit it off immediately, so we became friends."
Zhou Wei also said: "To report to Your Majesty, the student did not know Cao Baihu's identity before he met him by chance. Even now, he only knows that he is a Baihu of the Capital Guard, and does not know the rest. It is true that they made friends because of similar interests. .”
Yunxi didn't comment, but just asked: "What are the similar interests between you two?"
"Your Majesty, I like to study geography. But unlike general generals who study geography, I like to study why the terrain is like this, why there are earthquakes, and why there are volcanic eruptions."
As he spoke, Cao Zheng gritted his teeth and said: "I have also studied astronomy. I am very curious about why the sun, moon and stars hang in the sky and do not fall down. I have carefully studied the ancient theory of Gaitian and Zhang Heng's theory of Huntian in the Han Dynasty, but Neither of these two explanations can explain this matter. Moreover, even if we do not talk about why the sun, moon and stars hang in the sky and do not fall down, neither the Gaitian theory nor the Huntian theory can explain why the sun, moon and stars move like this." I am very fascinated by astronomy and want to solve these two problems. It happens that Zhou Jinshi is also the same as me, so the two of them hit it off immediately."
"I know that studying astronomy is a taboo, and I ask your Majesty to punish you." He thought to himself that he had talked with others many times about his interest in astronomy. If the emperor sent someone to investigate, he would surely find it out, so why not confess it himself? Kuan, plead guilty on the spot.
"Your Majesty, students also like to study astronomy, please punish them," Zhou Wei also said.
After Cao Zheng said these words, he thought that Yunxi would immediately reprimand him for not doing his job properly and studying astronomy, which is officially prohibited. After scolding him, he would forgive himself and Zhou Wei for some reason. But after a long time, he did not hear anything. Yun Hei's voice made him secretly surprised, but he didn't dare to raise his head and just knelt down.
Little did he know that Yunxi was already surrounded by huge surprises at this time.
After seeing Cao Zheng in another inn just now, Yunxi was very surprised as to why he was there. After listening for a while, he realized that it was the new scholar named Zhou Wei who hit it off with Cao Zheng because of their common interests. After a while, he met Cao Zheng. Do something with him, so bring him here.
Hearing these words, Yun Xi immediately thought about it and sent someone to call the two of them over.
Yunxi wanted to summon Cao Zheng as early as when he was in Annan. Astronomy, geography and mathematics are the two major origin disciplines of modern science, and the development of all other scientific categories are closely related to them. If he wants to develop the science of the Ming Dynasty, he must focus on it. develop these two disciplines.
But Yunxi later thought: Although Xu Jingchang would not tell lies in front of him, ordinary curiosity and serious research are not the same thing. The real purpose of studying the principles of astronomy is the same as the ultimate goal of studying astronomy as a means. There is also a big difference between studying philosophy. The former is like Ptolemy proposing the geocentric theory, while the latter is like the church using the geocentric theory to support theology.
There is also a problem with Yunxi's rash summoning of Cao Zheng to the palace for an audience. If he was just an ordinary member of the household, the minister would not care even if he was puzzled. But he is the son of Cao Xing, and Yunxi summoned him without any reason. It may cause a lot of speculation among the ministers and trigger a political struggle. Even if Cao Zheng told others after he returned that the emperor summoned him for a chat, others would not believe it.
Therefore, Yunxi planned to visit the health center where he was staying one day, and at the same time, seemingly unintentionally, he asked him about astronomy to determine whether he was really studying astronomy.
But just now Yunxi has confirmed that Cao Zheng is really studying astronomy. It is philosophically meaningful to care about why the sun, moon and stars do not fall and to study their laws of motion, but there is no philosophical significance to study why they move like this. , Anyone who studies this point is definitely not doing it for philosophical purposes.
What's more, Yunxi also discovered another person who was also keen on astronomy. Since Zhou Wei was able to hit it off with Cao Zheng, it means that Zhou Wei could not study astronomy for philosophical purposes.
So Yunxi suddenly discovered two people who could become astronomers, or even the founders of modern Chinese science. How could he not be happy?
After a long time, the guard Song Qingshu who was standing next to Yunxi had to lean down and said softly: "Your Majesty, even if Your Majesty wants to punish Cao Zheng and Zhou Wei, there is no need to make them kneel for such a long time."
"Ah!" Yunhe Muran, who was immersed in his own thoughts, was awakened and reacted and said: "You two, get up."
Cao Zheng and Zhou Wei stood up anxiously. The emperor had made them kneel for such a long time, and he didn't know how they would be punished. 'Could it be that he not only wants to terminate my position as a hundred households, but also wants to punish them? Prison?' Cao Zheng thought.
But what Yunxi said next was beyond their expectations. "I will not impose any punishment on you two."
Cao Zheng and Zhou Wei couldn't help but look at each other. Why was the emperor so tolerant of them?
"The reason why I won't punish you for this is not to give you two preferential treatment," Yunxi, who saw what they were thinking, said: "Since ancient times, the reason why people have been prohibited from studying astronomy in all dynasties is because I just think that I can use astrology and astronomy to judge good and bad luck and know the general trend of the world. But I am totally wrong about this."
"If studying astronomy can avoid disasters and know blessings, how could Meng Yuan perish? He could have used the Qin Tian Jian to observe the stars at night to know where someone was about to rebel, so he could kill that person in advance. Wouldn't everything be fine? ?”
"Similarly, it can be seen that if observing the stars at night can really know the general trend of the world, then in the Song Dynasty, after Wanyan Agu launched an army, he should have known that he would be a serious trouble in the future, and would not have joined forces with him to destroy the Liao Dynasty and destroy the country and the family."
"It can be seen from this that astronomy is astronomy and stars are stars. We can make calendars based on them and know when there will be southeast winds and when there will be northwest winds. However, we cannot use this to know the good and bad luck and the general trend of the world."
Yunxi must break the rule that prohibits folk study of astronomy. As the origin of modern science, astronomy, if this cannot be broken, how can it develop? If astronomy cannot develop, geology, mechanics, and geometry will not be able to develop. The science of Ming Dynasty You will always fall behind until outsiders come knocking on your door.
"Secretary Qing, after I return to the palace, I will prepare an edict and announce that from tomorrow onwards, the strict prohibition on the practice of astronomy and horoscopes set by the late emperor in the "Da Ming Code" will be abolished." Yunxi ordered Song Qingshu again.
